The Future of Convenience 2019 – 5 key take-outs
We recently attended the HIM Future of Convenience 2019 event and spent a fascinating day immersed in the exciting and ever-changing world of convenience retail. We heard from an array of speakers from retailers, suppliers and industry experts.

The Arena Christmas Event 2018
As a leading food and drink agency we are regular attendees at Arena networking events. This December their Christmas event was long-awaited, as it marked not only the unofficial start to Christmas (in my humble opinion), but also the very first function to be held at the Mandarin Oriental since its fire and refurbishment. As well as the draw of the opulent surroundings of the Mandarin Oriental, the running order of the day boasted a presentation from Peter Backman and a talk from Chef Patron of Lympstone Manor, Michael Caines MBE.

A Michelin evening with Raymond Blanc
The tickets sold out weeks ago, but on Monday Jellybean headed to the beautiful Chino Latino, Park Plaza for a ‘Michelin starred evening with Raymond Blanc OBE and his Protégés’.

FSM Awards 2018
The FSM Awards recognises the very best of the contract catering world across its diverse sectors, from workplace to education catering, across everything from management to chef skills, innovation to CSR. The glittering night was compered by Mark Durden-Smith who it seemed had trawled through everyone’s LinkedIn and company websites to find out some of the most embarrassing facts about them (all of which was taken in good humour – thankfully).

Festival 30 with The Russell Partnership
Last night we were lucky enough to be invited to Festival 30, the 30th birthday celebrations of The Russell Partnership – industry leading foodservice consultants and long-time client of Jellybean.

BITES Live
Held at the prestigious Royal Garden Hotel, I had the pleasure of attending the first BITES Live conference from H2O Publishing and hearing all about the latest trends and brands shaping the food and drink offerings on our high street.
BITES stands for Brands, Insights, Trends and customer Experiences, which was perfectly covered by the array of exciting speakers discussing hot topics from experiential hospitality to how technology is shaping eating out. Here are my top takeouts from the day:

EDUcatering Awards 2018
The EDUcatering Awards held by H20’s EDUcatering Magazine celebrates the oft unsung heroes of catering in the education sector. School catering has seen its critics over recent years, but in stark contrast to the headlines, it has some of the most passionate and driven people in the world of foodservice. Dedicated to ensuring our children eat well and develop good habits early on, school caterers both in-house and in the contract catering arena take their responsibility very seriously and truly deserve this glittering night. As the leading foodservice agency we were lucky enough to attend this marvellous event hosted by Jamie Robins MD of H20 and Jason O’Rouke, Headteacher of Washingborough Academy.

Retail Industry Awards 2018
Glory for Independents at the Retail Oscars! The Retail Industry Awards, widely regarded as “The Oscars” of the grocery retail sector is the annual get-together of the whole industry to celebrate and reward the best of the best, from the smallest independents, to the largest supermarket groups. Having hot-footed it from the Quality Foodservice awards the Jellybean Convenience Retail Marketing team were joined at the prestigious ceremony by many of our key retail clients to toast the great and good.

Celebrate Christmas with Raymond Blanc & Hospitality Action
As a long-time supporter of Hospitality Action, we were delighted to support them by creating the marketing material for their Festive Fundraising Dinner: An Evening with Raymond Blanc OBE. This fabulous event will see Raymond Blanc OBE, his Executive Head Chef Gary Jones and Chef Pâtissier Benoit Blin from the two Michelin-starred Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons prepare a lavish Christmas feast at Chino Latino, at The Park Plaza Riverbank in London on Monday 26th November.

Foodservice Q Awards 2018
Last Thursday saw this year’s search for foodservice’s most innovative food and drink products (as well those of us involved in food and drink marketing) culminate in a glittering ceremony, as the highly prestigious UK Foodservice Quality Food Awards celebrated the very best of the industry. Held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, the event welcomed hundreds of the foodservice industry’s key players and of course as the leading food and drink agency with a raft of clients up for awards the we were there in force. Along with the beans and some of our lovely clients, including The Real Soup Company, Manilife and Savse, there was everyone from nationwide wholesalers to ground-breaking independents – all keen to see whose products had been judged good enough to receive a highly coveted Quality mark.

Arena Autumn Event
This Arena Autumn event rang the changes, with a new venue in the shape of the imposing Banking Hall in the heart of the City of London. The line-up included a talk on the market from Simon Stenning of MCA and the headline interview hosted by Mark Lewis of Hospitality Action with Frank Gleeson, CEO and Regional President of Northern Europe Aramark and Jon Knight, CEO of Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group. With the day billed as ‘When contract catering meets the high street’ for obvious reasons, Simon took to the stage to take us through an overview of the eating out market and then onto the dynamics affecting the branded restaurant and contract catering world. Some of the key take-outs included:

Kombucha Coming Atcha (@ Lunch! Show)
On my quest to discover the good and the great/the interesting and the innovative at this year’s Lunch! Show, I was delighted to learn of the wonders of Kombucha. I’ve shared my new discovery with my friends at Foodservice and Retail Marketing Agency, Jellybean, and now I would like to share them with you…

Being ‘Social’ at the Foodservice Quality Food Awards…
As a partner of the prestigious Quality Food Awards, and with a wealth of experience in foodservice – we’re a leading foodservice marketing & PR agency if you didn’t know (!) – Jellybean was asked along to support and amplify on social media, this year’s Foodservice Quality Food Awards judging process.

Catey Awards 2018 – A night to remember
Thanks to our friends at The Caterer, Jellybean had the delight of attending the 35th Catey Awards at the beautiful Grosvenor House on Park Lane. Our evening was spent celebrating the finest individuals from across the UK’s restaurant, hotel, foodservice and pub & bar sectors and recognising the hard work, passion and dedication that is vital to the success of our hospitality industry.

I Imbibed!
One of the things I’ve missed most during my time away from foodservice agency; Jellybean has been the buzz of a trade show (for those of you who don’t know, I’ve recently returned for my fifth year at the fabulous agency). Yesterday morning, I slipped on my walking shoes (read: drinking boots), packed my iPad and printed off my visitor pass – I was off to Imbibe Live 2018.

Afternoon Tea Awards
On Wednesday 20th June, MD Susan and I attended the first ever Afternoon Tea Awards, hosted at the Westminster Boating Base by our friends at H20 publishing, the good people behind, amongst others, Hotel F&B magazine.

MCA Insight
On 8th June two of our beans – Laura and Leigh – joined the MCA Food Study Tour around London to discover the latest food trends that are impacting the out of home market.

Time for Development Chefs to Get the Recognition they Deserve with the Foodservice Quality Food Awards
As a leading foodservice agency, we work closely with development chefs day in and day out, so it seems fitting that in our newly appointed role as PR agency to the Foodservice Quality Food Awards that we should announce a new category for 2018. Drum roll please… The Development Chef Award is aimed directly at manufacturers (rather than operators) and recognises these as-yet unsung innovators for their highly commendable work in getting NPD over the line.

25th Craft Guild of Chefs Awards
This Monday saw the 25th anniversary of the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards held at The Grosvenor House Hotel London. Coined the ‘Oscars’ of the chef world, the awards celebrate excellence across the industry. This year’s awards ceremony was particularly special as it marked a quarter century of these prestigious accolades. The night began in style with the champagne and canapés as guests circulated the Grosvenor House mezzanine level overlooking the impressive Great Room, catching-up with old friends and new. As a leading food and drink agency we were there in force with invites from both Dewberry Redpoint and client McCormick.
As ever, Jellybean Creative the leading foodservice marketing agency were there to support the awards and report back for the Jellybean blog.
The team at the Grosvenor House had the unenviable task of catering for some of the leading chefs in the country on a grand scale (quite an ask) but they did us proud with a delicious four course dinner followed by port and cheese and of course coffee and petit fours. Then it was on to the focus of the night the awards themselves…a drum roll please for the winners…
